EduCamp Almaty 2009: How are the mass media different from the blogosphere?
Kazakhstan, Media and InternetNo Comment
Original post (RUS)
Olesya Gasanova, who participated in the “EduCamp Almaty 2009 - New Media Weekend” seminar, writes:
The process of peaceful globalization is as irreversible as ageing, and its primary instrument in creating a “new world” is the internet with its social networks.
Our society is linked by an invisible web of various currents of information. Hopping over the Berlin Wall is no longer a physical effort, but a matter of opening any relevant forum or blog and saying, “Hello!” – and you will be heard :) , and you will receive accurate news from behind “the wall.”
But… is it credible and objective?! Traditional mass media (newspapers, TV, radio and their Internet clones) pass off their own point-of-view to the audience, thus revealing their allegiance to one set of financial interests or another. Kazakhstan’s media, without exception, work precisely this way. They have absolutely no trust from the audience.
This is the fundamental difference between mass media and the blogosphere. When you’re reading a BLOG, you form our own point-of-view, because you’re the one assimilating available information. It is a matter of trusting yourself, and therein lies the paradox – from the particular to the general.
The world has become multi-polar, opinions differ, and you become – sometimes against your will – the creator of your own point-of-view, position and knowledge base. The true freedom of choice has become available even to countries with “closed political regimes.” Information seeps through like water and then springs up like a jet. We don’t need corrections and checkpoints because the virtual world has no censorship or borders (regulating pornography and depictions of violence is a different question).
In Kazakhstan, the blogosphere is expanding rapidly and earning the respect of progressive-minded youth, but the powers that be realize the revolutionary potential and “danger” that lurks behind “innocuous” LiveJournals and social networking profiles. This is why access to LiveJournal was blocked.
The future of Kazakhstan’s blogosphere is uncertain, but its success is directly proportional to users’ desire to express their civic position. Its development is unstoppable, and it is in our power to make our society an open one. We are ready for unification, open to the world! And we have thinking people who are ready to tell the world about themselves and their country.
Information on the worldwide web has become more personalized, and the tendency is not accidental. Values change with time. While before we talked about society and global issues, now every single individual is important, because together we are a greater society with equal opportunities for all. Isn’t that what we have been striving for?
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